LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An anti-abortion counseling organization in Arkansas on Wednesday asked to intervene in the federal case over a state law that bans most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

Attorneys for Concepts of Truth, Inc. told a federal judge the group wanted to help defend the new abortion restriction being challenged in a lawsuit by abortion rights supporters. The Wynne-based organization provides counseling to pregnant women who are considering having an abortion and says it operates a national call center to counsel women who have had the procedure.

Millie Lace, the group’s founder and director, said in documents filed with the court that she and her husband formed Concepts because “we wanted to change hearts, minds and decisions about abortion.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the state over the ban last month. The groups filed the suit on behalf of Dr. Louis Jerry Edwards and Dr. Tom Tvedten, who provide abortions at a Little Rock clinic.

The Republican-led Legislature enacted the ban in March when it overrode Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto of the measure. Beebe and other opponents of the ban say it violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

The measure won’t take effect until 90 days after the Legislature formally adjourns this year’s session, which lawmakers are scheduled to do May 17. That day a federal judge also is scheduled to hold a hearing over the lawsuit.